Trustee Andrew Duff aspired to work for Piper Jaffray & Hopwood as a teenager and that dream never went away. He was hired by Piper after graduating from Tufts. After 34 years, he's still there and has served as its chairman and CEO for more than a decade.

A bright yellow pickup truck is parked on the third floor of a downtown Minneapolis office building, and to a stranger it doesn't fit into the maze of cubicles that stretch as far as the eye can see. "Ryan Lumber and Coal Co.," reads the lettering on the truck. "Everything to Build Anything."

Jim Gearen has accumulated many memories and memorabilia in his 25 years as a commercial real estate “guru,” as one investor calls him, but his most-prized possession may be a small picture frame in his downtown Minneapolis office.

The company that provided the familiar stone that gives many St. Thomas buildings their signature look is ending operations. Mankato Kasota Stone will close after 128 years of mining in the Minnesota River Valley.

John N. Allen has worked with real estate developers, investors and executives around the country, and as much as he respects them and values their perspectives and their role as mentors, he believes his success boils down to one intangible element.

Marianne Short considers herself fortunate to have been counseled by brilliant lawyers and wise judges throughout her career, but she believes the best advice she ever received was from her father when she was a child – and it had little to do with her chosen profession.

A determined and common-sense work ethic always has characterized Tom Madison. "I’m not afraid of hard work," Madison said. "I just applied all of the principles that I learned on my paper routes ... "